Project management: definition and life cycle

What is a project?

A project is a set of organized actions, bounded in time by a start date and an end date, aimed at reaching a specific objective with defined resources. It differs from recurring activities because it is unique and temporary.

Three characteristics define any project:

• Uniqueness: every project is different. Even when the approach is similar, the context, the people and the constraints are never the same.
• Temporality: a project has a limited duration. It stops as soon as the objective is reached or a decision to stop is taken.
• Cross-functionality: a project draws on skills and resources that often go beyond the boundaries of a single department or team.

This cross-functionality is what makes project management complex: you have to coordinate people with different schedules and priorities while keeping the course set on the initial objective.

A complete definition of project management

Project management consists of carrying out all the steps that mark out a project's life cycle, from the birth of the idea to the final delivery. It involves:

• defining the scope, the objectives and the expected deliverables;
• planning the actions, resources and deadlines;
• coordinating internal and external stakeholders;
• monitoring progress and managing risks;
• communicating with stakeholders;
• closing the project and capturing the lessons learned.

The project manager has to handle two major concerns at once: time, and resources (human and material). Understanding the interactions between the different stakeholders and keeping costs under control are the constant challenges of the exercise.

Project or day-to-day operations?

Not everything a team does is a project. Running a weekly production meeting, processing customer orders or closing the monthly accounts are recurring activities: they repeat, with the same people and largely the same steps. A project, by contrast, produces something that did not exist before: a new site, a new software rollout, a reorganization, a product launch.

The distinction matters because the two are not steered in the same way. Recurring activities are managed with procedures, indicators and continuous improvement. Projects need a scope, a schedule, a budget and a governance that stops once the result is delivered. In practice, many managers juggle both: they run their department while contributing to several cross-functional projects. That is why the actions coming out of project meetings and those coming out of operational meetings often end up competing for the same people's time.

The project life cycle: 6 phases

Whatever the type of project, its life cycle includes six major phases. Each one produces specific deliverables and calls on different skills:

For a detailed description of each phase and the concrete actions to take, see our guide to the 7 steps to effective project management.

Objective vs stake: a key difference for success

Confusing a project's objective with its stake is one of the most common mistakes in project management. This confusion leads to inconsistent decisions and to conflicting priorities between stakeholders.

Understanding the stake leads to better decisions during the project: when the initial objective seems out of reach, the stake guides the trade-offs. "We can deliver late, but we cannot afford to leave the teams disconnected."

The main challenges for a project manager

• Meeting deadlines. Many projects miss their initial schedule. The usual causes are underestimated complexity, over-allocated resources and dependencies nobody anticipated.
• Mobilizing cross-functional teams. Project team members often have their own line managers and their own priorities. The project manager has to influence without direct authority.
• Keeping visibility. Without a suitable tool, the project manager spends more time collecting information than making decisions. Real-time visibility is a structural issue.
• Managing scope changes. Scope creep is one of the main causes of overruns. Every change should be formally assessed and approved.
• Communicating with sponsors. Decision-makers want concise, reliable information. Producing that reporting without spending hours on it requires suitable steering tools.

Which tool to run a project effectively?

The question of the tool is often asked too early, before even defining what you are trying to do. A project management tool does not make up for poor organization, but it amplifies what already works well.

Operational teams (managers, heads of department, executive teams) have specific needs that differ from those of technical project managers:

• real-time tracking of the action plan by all participants;
• automatic reminders on overdue actions;
• a consolidated view across several projects or teams;
• a native connection between steering meetings and the action plan;
• integration with Teams and Outlook to avoid entering things twice.

That is exactly what a collaborative action management tool offers: it is designed for operational managers rather than technical project managers. To keep the plan on track once the project is running, our best practices for writing an effective action plan will help.